Family Rows, Chris Rea and Forgotten Presents: The Story of Britain’s 5.9bn* Mile Christmas Journey

It sounds like a nightmare - being trapped in a car for a combined total of 11 hours, travelling over 300 miles to three separate lunches, and on the way having two family arguments, dealing with the fear of icy roads and Chris Rea playing in the car.

But according to new research that’s just Britain’s average Christmas car ride - and almost half of us LOOK FORWARD to the experience.

According to research from webuyanycar.com, this festive season 70 percent of Britons are expecting to spend 11 hours - one and a half working days - in the car.

The study found that visiting blended and extended families are behind this annual Yuletide exodus, with the average Brit set to celebrate Christmas three times, in three different locations, this December.

Nevertheless, we wouldn’t have it any other way, with over 90 percent of us saying seeing family is vital at this time of year.

This means we’ll be travelling, on average, 311 miles, just under the distance of London to Edinburgh, to see them. Added together as a nation we’ll be travelling over 5.9bn* miles in cars this Christmas.

Our biggest worries about the drive are icy roads (67 percent), almost one third (32 percent) are worried about traffic and around a quarter (24 percent) are worried about breaking down.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom, on average there will be ten presents in the back of the car, though 11 percent of us will have forgotten some or all of the presents.

Richard Evans, head of technical services at webuyanycar.com said: "Our cars play a huge role in making the Festive Season happen, from transporting the tree home, to filling the car with the Christmas shopping and most importantly, helping us to reach our loved ones."

"Understandably, some motorists may worry about how their car will fare at this time of year and what the onset of winter weather might throw at us. At webuyanycar.com we like to make life as stress free as possible, that’s why we offer motorists a hassle free, quick way to sell their car."

Richard added: "Motoring can cause any number of worries but selling your car doesn’t need to be one of them. Especially at this time of year, when time is best spent doing things you enjoy with your nearest and dearest. We pride ourselves on offering a service where our customers can sell their car in under an hour and get back to doing the things they enjoy with their time."